


love to hold you close

by wshxn



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Oh Sehun & Park Chanyeol are Best Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 22:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20217406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wshxn/pseuds/wshxn
Summary: sehun has a confession to make.it is a paralyzing secret—almost silly, even—because oh sehun is amazing at keeping a steady, flirtatious grin on his face when he is attracted to someone, even if his insides scream for him tomake a goddamn move.but not today. sehun is in trouble.





	love to hold you close

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaiohtic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaiohtic/gifts).

> i hope this makes you happy, love. ♡

sehun has a confession to make.

it is a paralyzing secret—almost silly, even—because oh sehun is amazing at keeping a steady, flirtatious grin on his face when he is attracted to someone, even if his insides scream for him to _make a goddamn move_.

but not today. sehun is in trouble.

his confidence is wavering in front of byun baekhyun, two years his senior and his fellow volunteer at the animal shelter inside a pet store located a block away from university. baekhyun is sunshine and sugary smiles in his jeans, hands gentle and affectionate through the fur of the shelter’s rescue dogs they’ve unabashedly named themselves.

oftentimes, sehun catches baekhyun sing to the cats as they purr in his lap, the puppies finding peace in the sweet timbre of his voice, and sehun swears he will die at the ripe age of 20 at the small, infectious laugh baekhyun makes every time a pup snuggles closer.

goodbye, college degree.

and it doesn’t help that, with only a year of volunteering at this shelter, sehun has grown to fondly call them a family; that the childlike side of baekhyun calls sehun _darling_, and sehun indulges him with a _sweetheart_ and an equally playful wink; and that even at his most vulnerable moment when a pet has to be taken down, baekhyun would find comfort on sehun’s shoulder as he cries through the process, his grip tight around the front of sehun’s shirt, his thick-rimmed glasses stained with tears.

perhaps what sehun likes most out of this tirade is that baekhyun seems to think that they are family, too.

‘hi, _darling_,’ baekhyun sing-songs through the aisle of pet food where sehun now distractedly arranges each item by brand. ‘how are you this lovely morning?’

‘hello, _sweetheart_,’ sehun responds nonchalantly, mesmerized by how the sunlight stains baekhyun’s eyes with the colour of hot chocolate on a cold winter night. he looks away before he thoroughly drowns in them. ‘th-the multi-colored collars and leashes you ordered arrived, but i haven’t gotten to them yet.’

baekhyun blooms to an even brighter smile. ‘oh thank god! i’ve been waiting for them for ages. do you think monggu would look good in a red collar—’

sehun isn’t even listening anymore and is instead overwhelmed by the sound of his own heart beating.

  
it is one evening in late november that chanyeol, much to his dismay, comes to know of how deeply distressing sehun’s predicament is after catching the younger man mulling over whether to get baekhyun a scarf in mustard yellow or pine green. ‘sehun, i don’t think the color matters—’

‘but they _have_ to match his eyes, hyung,’ sehun whines, clutching both garments as if his life depended on it. it may as well have, as chanyeol rolls his eyes at his best friend’s sad attempt at romance and he can’t tell whether it’s this indecisiveness or the christmas rush that’s giving him a headache. ‘okay. alright, here we go. uhmm. i’ve decided on green.’

chanyeol’s lips curl into a thoughtful pout. ‘hmm, yeah, it’s pretty. but i’d have pegged him to be more into blue. like, puppy blue, if such a shade even exists.’

‘but this _reminds_ me of him because he’s like—he’s like the _sun_, you know?’ chanyeol wants to laugh, if not for the breath that catches in his throat as sehun says, ‘and when he looks at me—like _really_ looks at me—it’s like right there. _right there_, is exactly where i’m supposed to be.’

‘that,’ chanyeol swallows, a little envious of the certainty in sehun’s voice. ‘is _extremely_ cheesy, even for you.’ he ushers sehun to the counter, nonchalantly picking a ribbon blood red in color to come with a wrapper in midnight blue.

‘as _if_. i’ve always been the romantic one between the two of us. jongin says so, too.’

chanyeol rolls his eyes. ‘well _excuse_ me. i will have you know that i am planning to propose to jongin—’

‘you _what_?!’ sehun slams a palm on the counter, startling the cashier before clumsily handing out a wad of bills. ‘_when_? how long were you going to wait to tell me this?! and am i your best man? or flower boy? i could be ring-bearer—’

‘the best man, you idiot! so you better be there. and you can bring byun baekhyun with you as a plus one.’ _ah_. the best friend privilege. ‘the puppies get free passes—fuck, don’t go all sentimental on me now!’

sehun snorts, but his eyes are visibly damp, shiny with unmasked joy and excitement because this was _park chanyeol_, his dork of a best friend who tripped on air and was practically _glowing_ from delivering such good news. sehun locks their arms together as some sort of promise, a spring in his step as they step out of the store. ‘i wouldn’t miss it for the world, hyung.’

  
‘chanyeol is proposing to jongin on christmas eve!’

sehun blurts out excitedly through the door the next saturday morning. baekhyun almost drops the blow dryer in surprise, but quickly recovers from the jolt, carrying on with his chore. mongryong whimpers in his arms at the warmth blasting through the air around him. ‘that’s great, sehun.’

‘my—my chanyeol—_my dopey_—’ sehun’s lower lip begins to quiver at the realization that dawns on him, that his best friend of more than a decade is to be wed. ‘getting married—’

it doesn’t even take a moment longer for baekhyun to collect the younger man in his arms, for sehun to curl himself and weep quietly at the crook of baekhyun’s neck. ‘i’m sure chanyeol won’t abandon you. he loves you and _he’s your best friend_. if he does, i’ll kick his sorry ass to mars.’

sehun laughs through his sobs and he lets baekhyun run a hand up and down his back in a soothing caress. he smelled faintly of lavender and melted ice cream. ‘hmm, love you,’ he murmurs carelessly, belatedly realizing what he had said when baekhyun pushes him away to look him in the eye, mouth agape and wondering. ‘what did you say?’

to save face, sehun lies. ‘i-i said i had something for you! f-for christmas…?’

‘oh, i thought i—’ baekhyun’s hands fall to his side, his smile faltering before it blooms into something more sincere. ‘thank you, sehun. i have something for you, too!’

‘right. uhh,’ sehun clears his throat at the growing tension in the air, walking away to survey the aisles of items to distract himself from his own uneasiness. it all feels very juvenile. ‘do you have plans for the holidays?’

baekhyun hums thoughtfully, adjusting his glasses with a finger and growling in annoyance as he does so. ‘get my glasses fixed, i suppose, or buy a new pair.’

‘great.’ sehun grins behind cans of premium cat food, proceeding to pet the kittens dropped off for adoption days prior at their respective cages. ‘then you’d need me there with you.’

baekhyun raises an eyebrow, amused. ‘i do?’

‘yeah,’ sehun chimes in, appearing again by baekhyun’s side in a few strides. he proceeds to pick up mongryong off the table, brushing through his fur with soothing strokes. ‘otherwise, no one would tell you if you’d look good in them. but then again, you’d look good in anything, hyung.’

‘would i really?’ baekhyun’s laugh makes sehun’s toes curl and it felt like diving head first into crashing waves. baekhyun’s cheeks are flushed pink when he says, ‘you’re a real sweetheart, sehun. i’d like that a lot a-and i like being with you…!’

i like _you_, sehun badly wants to say, but he hides behind a timid smile, a knowing look. ‘yeah?’ he squares his shoulders, gaining confidence from the latter comment, even if he smells of dog poop and kibble and he figures it is now or never. mongryong licks at his hand to carry on. vivi back home wouldn't like this at all. ‘you know, hyung, i know a really good pizza parlour a few blocks from here.’

the quirk in baekhyun’s lips widen into a toothy grin, as if catching on. ‘do they serve milkshakes?’

‘the _absolute best_ frozen hot chocolate,’ sehun exclaims, and he is beginning to fidget under the silence that follows, save for baekhyun’s comforting murmurs of toben’s name when the puppy is carried to the tub. sehun coughs into his hand as an attempt to calm his nerves. ‘and i also know for a fact that their milkshakes are big enough for two. you know. for sharing?’

sehun is not sure he is ready for the possible heartache when he fixes a wary gaze on baekhyun, busy with giving toben soapy belly rubs, but is surprisingly caught by the flush of baekhyun’s cheeks, the redness at the tip of his ears. he gives mongryong a scratch behind the ears before putting him back in the playpen. he finds toben shaking the water off himself when he returns and baekhyun avoiding the light shower with a small laugh, mildly distracted.

‘i-is that an invitation or—?’ comes a wistful whisper from the smaller man moments later, like he’d been holding his breath and waiting all this time. sehun realizes that perhaps baekhyun is actually as hopeful as he sounds. ‘because we could get some together. uhmm. _you know_. but if not—if not—’

‘can you _please_ stop being so adorable for once, jesus christ,’ sehun wants to jump off a cliff. he closes a hand around baekhyun’s wrist in anticipation, a slow and gentle touch to his racing pulse. ‘yes, hyung, that was an invitation—i’m actually asking you out, if i hadn’t made it clear enough.’

‘oh.’ _oh._ baekhyun shoulders begin to shake, until a wholehearted laugh bubbles out of his chest, into the stillness of the room. toben barks through his bubble bath as baekhyun nudges sehun shyly with an elbow, throwing him a smile bright enough to put the sun to shame. ‘i would love to go out with you, sehun.’

sehun is delighted and smitten, and he wants to scream and dance and maybe tell the whole world that byun baekhyun said yes it almost feels unreal. but he doesn’t, and controls his giddiness to simmer down to a low hum of pride and approval. ‘so… tomorrow evening, then? i’ll pick you up at 7?’

baekhyun’s glasses fall to the tip of his nose when he nods with a chuckle, and sehun really, really wants to kiss him.

so he does.

and baekhyun’s lips taste just like a dream.

  
(sehun’s heart threatens to jump out of his chest when he adjusts the scarf around baekhyun’s neck to fit him better, the shade of green making baekhyun’s eyes look hazel as they glisten with the light of a billion stars when he holds his gaze.

‘what is it?’ baekhyun whispers, and sehun just smiles at him softly, very much enamoured, collapsing into baekhyun’s arms in a fit of giggles because he is just so, _so_ happy.)

**Author's Note:**

> I MISS SEBAEK, _ALWAYS_. HERE'S TO HOPING I AM ABLE TO WRITE MORE OF THEM (AND CHANKAI) because i got into anime (what a _ride_, tbh), but you can still definitely come scream exo / sebaek / chankai at me on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/ohmyshixun). i am and always will be an exo-l, after all. ♡


End file.
